As of the 2013-14 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,431 students and 94.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 15.1:1. The school's enrollment was 81.2% White, 4.1% Black, 10.2% Hispanic, 4.4% Asian and 0.1% American Indian / Alaska Native.[1]
History
It was created in 1972 by the merger of St. Joseph Academy for girls (established in 1884)[2] and Dowling High School for boys (established in 1918 as the Des Moines College boarding school for boys).[3][4]
Total tuition cost for 2018-2019 is $11,176 plus fees. Tuition for students belonging to a Catholic Parish is $7,986 plus fees. Tuition for international students is $12,076 plus fees.[8]
Extracurricular activities
Baseball
The Maroons hold the record for most team home runs during a championship game with 5 in 2001.[9]
Dowling is the home of the Dowling Catholic Paradigm, one of the largest debate tournaments held by a school. In 2015, Dowling Catholic won 2 state titles for Congressional Debate, 1 for Public Forum debate, and 1 for Lincoln Douglas Debate.
Football
Home games are played at the 9,500 seat Valley Stadium in West Des Moines, Williams Stadium, or at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. In 2019, they became the first school in Iowa history to win seven straight Class 4A state championships.
Dowling made the playoffs 17 years in a row beginning in 1985 and ending in 2002 when Dowling missed the playoffs. The school won 36 consecutive games in the 1967 through 1971 graduating class seasons. Dowling won 64 consecutive Metro conference games, a streak lasting from 1968 to 1977. In addition to the 64 metro games Dowling also won 57 consecutive conference games lasting from 1993 to 2002. WDM, Valley is Dowling's primary rival since 1968 when the schools joined the Des Moines Metro Conference.
The boys' swimming team won four championships, consecutively from 2001 to 2003.[18] The girls' swim team won their first state title during the 2019 season.[citation needed]
Boys' tennis
Boys-2A State of Iowa High School Tennis Championships
^"CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department". Journal Inquirer. November 16, 2006. Archived from the original on August 19, 2007. The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve
^"Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test". The Washington Post. September 29, 2005. For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school.
^Olson, Jeff (February 20, 2014). "Iowan Annett prepares for first Daytona 500". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved March 6, 2017. But he never raced at the half-mile track, nor has he ever raced on dirt, and his NASCAR career nearly lost out to the National Hockey League. While a student at Dowling Catholic, Annett began pursuing his junior-A hockey career, eventually landing with the Waterloo Black Hawks and enrolling at Waterloo West.
^Birch Tommy (April 28, 2017). "Former Dowling Catholic WR Amara Darboh drafted by Seahawks". Des Moines Register. Retrieved October 2, 2017. Amara Darboh nearly had to wait until the third day of the NFL Draft to hear his name called. But one team swooped in late to grab him Friday. The former Dowling Catholic wide receiver was selected in the third round of the draft by the Seattle Seahawks, the 106th overall pick and second-to-last pick of the night.
^Peterson, Randy (July 25, 1999). "Bobby Hansen, Des Moines, 1999". Des Moines Register. Retrieved February 19, 2008. Graduated from West Des Moines Dowling High School in 1979, graduated University of Iowa in 1983.
^Miller, Judith (February 9, 1992). "Tom Harkin's Old-Time Religion". The New York Times. Retrieved November 6, 2007. After his mother died, Harkin, an altar boy, went to Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines and won a Navy R.O.T.C. scholarship to college.
^Witosky, Tom (January 21, 2011). "Rivalry's bitter roots took a strong hold". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved March 6, 2017. Bob Harlan, former president and CEO of the Green Bay Packers, has watched the longest and most bitter rivalry in the NFL for 37 years. The Des Moines native and West Des Moines Dowling Catholic graduate knows how it began, how it has grown into football legend and what it means to fans on both sides.
^Staff (October 20, 2012). "Catching up with: Former Dowling star, MLB player Matt Macri". USA Today. Retrieved October 3, 2017. The former multi-sport athlete for West Des Moines Dowling Catholic quarterbacked the Maroons' football team to its first state championship in 2000, beating Bettendorf 35-28 in the final.
^Boatright, Ashley (December 13, 2020). "Is Netflix's 'Yes, God, Yes' Based on Dowling Catholic?". Viewfinder. Retrieved July 1, 2021. Karen Maine is an Iowa native, a Dowling Catholic High School graduate and, more recently, the writer and director of "Yes, God, Yes," a movie that recently trended on the Netflix Top 5 nationwide.
^"About Matt McCoy". Iowa Senate. Retrieved October 3, 2017. Matt graduated from Dowling High School in 1984 and earned his B.A. degree from Briar Cliff College in Sioux City in 1988.
